He grabbed the fin. “I’ll do that okay,” he said. “You just sit around.”
A little after one o’clock the place began to fill up. Almost immediately he jerked his head at me. A tall, blonde doll was just settling herself on a stool, preparing to put on the nose-bag. She’d got a friendly look about her, and I thought I’d get places with her if I handled her in the right way.
I let her settle down, then I left my place and took the stool next to hers. She was against the wall, so we were more or less isolated from the others.
She glanced at me and then went on packing a club sandwich away. The guy behind the counter came over and gave me one, too. He winked at me, and then took himself off to deal with a rush at the far end of his beat.
I said cautiously, “You’ll pardon me, but I guess you could tell me something about Miss Jackson.”
She jerked round like a virgin at bay. Her eyes popped a little and I thought she was going to get tough. “What did you say?” she asked.
“I’m looking for Miss Mardi Jackson,” I explained, putting on my best manners. “I was told you work for the Mackenzie Fabrics, and I thought maybe you could tell me.”
The startled expression died out of her eyes, and she swung herself round on the stool so that she faced me. “Are you a friend of hers?” she asked.
I took a chance. “I’m her boy friend,” I said.
“Really? Now isn’t that a scream?” she exclaimed. “You know, I always knew Mardi was deep… I told the other girls…. Not that they didn’t think so themselves… you know how it is, don’t you? A girl like Mardi ought to have a boy friend… it’s only natural, isn’t it? She never said anything about having one… she kept to herself a lot… don’t think we didn’t like her… we did. We were all struck in a heap when she left—”